By Zaria Johnson, Ideastream Public Media

This story was originally published by Ideastream.

Since December, four Northeast Ohio dogs and their human companions have been hot on the trail of invasive spotted lanternflies, sniffing out egg masses laid in the Cleveland Metroparks.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Charlevoix Fisheries Research Station is based in a building that was constructed in 1917, originally as a federal fish hatchery. It wasn’t the first on this site. An earlier hatchery was built in 1894.

The U.S. government was trying to replenish the fish population.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.

By Victoria Witke, Great Lakes Echo

Every spring for the last 15 years, Gene Gilliland and some friends have gone smallmouth bass fishing in Lake St. Clair in Southeast Michigan for a week.

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A fledgling birding festival that hatched 15 years ago has become an international event drawing visitors from around the world to northwest Ohio. While the stars of the show at the Biggest Week in American Birding (BWIAB) are migrating warblers, there are dozens of other species which draw crowds from every state and continent including wading and shore birds, tanagers, songbirds, waterfowl and raptors.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

By Leah Borts-Kuperman, The Narwhal

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS, Michigan Public and The Narwhal who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

By Emma McIntosh, The Narwhal

Emma and photographer Christopher Katsarov Luna spent four days in northwestern Ontario, including visits to White Lake and Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg.

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS, Michigan Public and The Narwhal who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Alberto Rey’s artistic passions are wide-ranging. But water and wildlife may most succinctly describe them. The retired State University of New York at Fredonia professor of art has waded into drawing, painting, ceramics and filmmaking all while diving headfirst into the deepest affection for the natural world.  

The 64-year-old Cuban-born artist moonlights as an Orvis-endorsed fly fishing guide on Western New York’s Lake Erie tributaries.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

This article is the first in a series called The Great Lakes Promise: Cost, Resilience and Refuge. This series was made possible in partnership between Great Lakes Now and Planet Detroit. 

Bird flu has hit the Great Lakes region hard this winter, killing nearly 5 million birds — including laying hens, ducks and other fowl — in Ohio and Indiana in the past two months.

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Rainbow trout and steelhead are two of the most popular sport fish in the Great Lakes. They also hold three spots on my lifetime list of all-time great dives.

An 8-inch juvenile rainbow was the first fish I ever hand-fed in the Great Lakes. My partner, Greg Lashbrook, and I had fed fish before at several different Caribbean dive resorts.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.